18 NIGHT LIFE Keeping Up with Jones I N its heyday, in the early eighties, British techno-pop was a rather dreary affair, performed chiefly by fey- voiced chaps whose writing tended to reflect a strong sense of what Cole Porter called "that old ennui." Then there was Howard Jones, a classically trained pia- nist who parlayed a knack for bright melodies and positive thinking into shame- lessly warm, ebullient rock. Jones made a joyful noise with his synthesizers and sequencers, but his lyrical sensibility also accommodated a bittersweet lament, as singles like "What Is Love?" and "No One Is to Blame" proved. Jones's current tour, which brings him to the Academy on October 22, coincides with the release of' 'The Best of Howard Jones," a greatest- hits collection that chronicles the singer's career from his 1983 début album, "Human's Lib," to last year's "In the Running.' , Joining Jones for this gig will be a band from Dublin called the Fat Lady Sings. Fat Lady's spirited guitar pop, with its shimmering folk flourishes and breathy, passionate vocals (a trademark of Irish rock singers, who tend to shy away from the cool sardonicism that distinguishes some of their English peers), is very much in synch with Jones's tender romanticism. The group will be playing a few other gigs in town over the next week or so, including a night at Café Sin-é on October 28, to promote its new album, "Johnson." Frontman Nick Kelly got his start singing in piano bars while studying law in N ew York, so for him this marks a sort of homecoming. CONCERTS SWEET HONEY IN THE RocK-This a-cappella en- semble manages to do more with five voices and an occasional tambourine than many groups could with an orchestra. Their voices weave, overlap, keep a dead-on beat, and even synthesize (or so it seems-they sound positively electronic on "Fulani Chant"), and their material incorporates African rhythms, gospel and blues, and folk songs from the South. Some songs touch on politics and issues like AIDS, yet the music never suc- cumbs to an agenda. It's a celebratory mo- ment for Sweet Honey in the Rock: next month, the group turns twenty (Carnegie Hall 247-7800. Oct 23 at 8.) BelL Blv DEVOE-With SWV, LeVert, Silk, Big Daddy Kane, MC Lyte, and Tag Team. A summit meeting of sweet and soulful harmo- nizers and hip-hop rappers (Madison Square Garden. 465-6000. Oct. 22 at 7:30.) PHILLIP OFFICER-Weill Recital Hall, at Carnegie Hall. 247-7800. Oct 20 at 8. TONY BENNETT-Longacre Theatre, 220 W 48th St. 239-6200. Oct. 20-22 at 8 and Oct. 23 at 2:30 and 8. BETTE MIDLER-"Experience the Divine" comes to a close. Bye, Bette! (Radio City Music Hall, Sixth Ave. at 50th St. 247-4777. Oct. 20-23 at 8.) PAUL SIMON-With Art Garfunkel, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and others. (Paramount, Madison Square Garden. 465-6000. Oct. 20, Oct 22-24, and Oct 26, all at 8. Through Nov. 2.) - -- - , -- ", ;\ I : , , ......... ... ' ' ''' ..... ,""' "- -- \\' , ," .. \ ','\, . ."... .', ... .r, .., : . A":' L ' 'A \ - ':' t"';' I ....., . .... ,t , õ' -. ., ,3 II I \\ .. ....' ",\ : , .. , . ': . \I '\1 , \, . ". , I , -..;.. ',. . . ',', - \ \ \ ,\ A" :: ..ì. ';. , ' ., 7/ .. ......:f Þ . "'1." . \.. ,.... -.. I Ï" , ;. .... ., " ',,' , t "',:. ,,<:.,, ,. ...../ , - ' j(, .:$ .. r.f"" ( Ji,,' \ i f ---.... I . *.. .. 1:' < : t It *...._ L -......-., '1.. t f ........ ., " ..., .. ,.. 'ii' 4. '.'. -. >> I' ( , ( \! .' \l . . ,,' JIMMIE DALE GILMOR.E grew up in Lubbock, where he soahd up just about every pure-blooded sound a West Texas boy can hear. The forty-eight-year-old singer's fifth album, ''Spinning Around the Sun, " is a high, lonesome masterzvork that lives and breathes country-music history. His three-night engagement at the Ballroom will provide a chance to hear this voice of the prairie in person. GEORGE BENSON-Beacon Theatre, Broadway at 74th St. 496-7070. Oct. 21 at 8. CARNEGIE HALL JAZZ BAND-A tribute to Benny Goodman, with guest artists Bill Easley, Milt Jackson, Walt Levinsky, David Liebman, and Michael White (Carnegie Hall 247- 7800. Oct. 21 at 8.) GROVER WASHINGTON, JR.-With Stanley Jordan. (Bedcon Theatre. Oct. 22 at 8.) JIM HALL AND PETER BERNSTEIN-New School, 66 W. 12th St. Oct. 22 at 6. Tickets at the door on the night of the concert. SALSA FESTIVAL-Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Oscar D'Leon, La India, and many others (Madi- son Square Garden. Oct. 23 at 8.) LUTHER V ANDROSS-With En Vogue and Lewis Dix. (Madison Square Garden. Oct. 26 at 8. Through Oct. 30.) DURAN DURAN-With the Cranberries. (Radio City Music Hall Oct. 26 at 8. Through Oct. 29.) ROCK AND FOLK ACADEMY, 234 W. 43rd St.-A cozy former theatre, situated a few doors away from Times Square, where techno and alternative- rock bands, among others, occasionally turn up. On Oct. 22: Brit-pop idol HOWARD JONES, with Irish modern rockers THE FAT LADY SINGS. For concert information, call 249-8870. BALLROOM, 253 W. 28th St. (244-3005)-A cool green music hall that features a steady stream of international pop and cabaret stars, as well as the occasional drag queen. The Ballroom is also a tapas restaurant-if you haven't had dinner, you may never make it to the show. JIMMIE DALE GILMORE is here Oct. 26-28. BOTTOM LINE, 15 W. 4th St., at Mercer St. (228-6300)-A great black loft that's jammed with row after row of tables-it looks a little like the site of a standardized test On Oct. 24-26: the CHICK COREA ElEKTRIC BAND II, a state-of-the-art fusion outfit led 'by the jazz pianist \" CAFÉ SIN-É. 122 St. Marks PI. (982-0370)- Don't be misled by the sleepy, hole-in-the- wall atmosphere of this bohemian Irish café, or by the fact that the place has no stage While patrons have been writing in journals, rolling cigarettes, or lingering over their Roll- ing Rocks, some pretty fine musicians have turned up and tuned up: Sinéad O'Connor, Marianne Faithfull, and Luka Bloom, to name a heady few. On Oct. 21, catch the folkie, effervescent rock of VENUS FOR BREAKFAST. On Oct. 24, SUSAN MC KEOWN AND THE CHANTING HOUSE serve up lyrical Celtic folk GRAND, 76 E. 13th St. (777 -0600)-A cross between an old-fashioned split-level night club and a parking garage decorated for a senior prom. Despite the balloons and the candy-colored lights, this is a serious room for serious rock-and-rolling. You can either vibrate up front, near a wall-o' -speakers, or lounge around the bar in the back and follow the show on a video monitor. On Oct. 21: the DEAD MILKMEN, with guests CHUCKLEHEAD. There's nothing particularly unique about the Milkmen's simple, straight-ahead rock and roll, except for the lyrics, which at their besOt transcend the band's fundamental taste- lessness to achieve an inspired level of snotty, taboo-defying irreverence, à la Don Rickles or Howard Stern IRVING PLAZA. l7 Irving Pl., at 15th St. (777- 6800)-This two-floor establishment has been all things to all people: meeting hall, rock club, jazz club, Off Broadway theatre. Physi- cally, the place is sagging a bit, but it has an odd, dingy charm. On Oct. 22: a double portion of atmospheric pop, with VERVE and ACETONE. Verve's reverb-laden, neo-psychedelic guitar rock alludes to influences ranging from Led Zeppelin to Echo and the Bunnymen, and its new album, "A Storm in Heaven," is a big hit with college-aged retrophiles, not to mentIon critics. Acetone, according to the band's press release, got its name from a Kurt Vonnegut novel, where it was used to describe a shade of green. It is said to be a "cool" color, but the songs on Acetone's début album, "Cindy," are actu- ally rather warm and inviting, in the band's quirky fashion. LONE STAR ROADHOUSE. 240 W. 52nd St. (245- 2950)-Austin-based singer and guitarist JUNIOR BROWN appears on Oct. 21. Brown's new album is called "Guit with It," a reference to his instrument of choice, the "gui t steel," a hybrid designed by Brown that fuses a steel guitar and a six-string Brown conceived this wacky instrument as a vehicle for his technical dexterity, but it's the gritty warmth of his songs, which em- phasize rock's roots in country music, that matters most. Dining. MAXWelL'S, 1039 Washington St, Hoboken. (1-201 798-4064)-Many of the bands that play here today will be playing somewhere more expensive tomorrow. YO LA TENGO takes the stage on Oct. 23. With the release of Its first major-label album, "Painful," this Hoboken trio has ended its long apprentice- ship on the margins of professionalism. But an amateur's heart and soul is the key to Yo La Tengo's intelligent rock, and the band s knowledge and imagination make "Painful," like their earlier independent releases, a RECORD STORE AR.RIVALS A highly seledive list of new releases we're curious to hear. PEARL JAM, "Vs." (Epic). ME'SHELL NDEGEOCELLO, "Plantation Lullabies" (Maverick) z o ELVIS COSTELLO, "2 0 Years" (Rykodisc). to w DEAD CAN DANCE. "Into the Labyrinth" (4AD). 8 => KRS-ONE. "Return of the Boom Bap' , Give) I "COMMON THREAD: THE SONGS OF THE CI::: EAGLES," by various country artists (Giant)